No Celtics amongst twenty-one 2023-24 NBA award finalists

Originally posted on Celtics Life | Last updated 4/22/24

The NBA has announced its finalists for their 2023-24 regular season awards and not only did Jayson Tatum not make the MVP final 3 cut, but no Celtics were among the twenty-one awards finalists.

Six of the awards are for players and the last is for Coach of the Year. The voters chose the three coaches from the teams with surprising come ups in wins, the Thunder, Timberwolves, and Magic.

To quote what I said in the MVP awards finalists post:

As a Celtics fan of course the NBA Finals trophy is much more important than an individual regular season award. And there is something cool about winning a title without having the "top" player on your team. Tatum and his Celtics could very well face one of these three finalists in the upcoming NBA Finals. It would be a similar scenario to when Kevin Garnett's Celtics defeated 2007-2008 NBA MVP Kobe Bryant in that year's Finals.

Not going to lie, but if the Celtics were to bring home Banner 18 this season without any individual accolades it would make the TEAM success even sweeter. Winning a title despite no finalists for any of the individual regular season awards would be the ultimate validation of a group of talented players coming together to play as a TEAM.

This article first appeared on Celtics Life and was syndicated with permission.

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